By Isaac Warren
Print Editor
SPRINGFIELD – On Jan. 27, 2016, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner gave his second annual State of the State address amid the backdrop of union negotiations and being more than halfway through a year without a budget.
Despite this, Rauner remained optimistic and explained his plans for making Illinois “more competitive.”
So far, social services and education have been left without millions of dollars in funding. On the University of Illinois-Chicago campus, 8,000 students have yet to receive financial aid promised to them by the state. The problems are plenty without a budget, but Rauner did not mention the current budget crisis in his speech.
Rauner left out a few other troubling details about the state.
According to the U.S. debt clock, Illinois has around 337,000 unemployed residents out about 12 million. Two million are on food stamps. Illinois is currently $147 billion dollars in debt.
In 2015, Illinois lost more than 22,000 residents. Illinois was the only Midwestern state to shrink last year. Those who left cited high property taxes and economic policies as reasons for moving elsewhere.
A total of 14,500 manufacturing jobs were lost in 2015. The closing of a General Mills factory, and Caterpillar layoffs contributed to this total. Caterpillar alone laid off between 4,000 and 5,000 employees in Illinois.
Rachel Potts, a Caterpillar spokeswoman, has told the media that plans to open a new facility in Peoria have been “delayed indefinitely.”
The governor’s speech was essentially a warning to lawmakers, saying that Illinois current problems will only continue if they do not adept his proposals.
He remarked, “Pretty soon, the unions won’t have any more jobs to unionize and the trial lawyers won’t have any more businesses to sue.”
Illinois’ financial issues have been heard even in the White House. President Barack Obama will visit Springfield, Illinois on 10 February 2016. The former Illinois senator will address lawmakers to “find common ground,” as Rauner has stated.
Isaac Warren can be reached at [email protected]